As Tigers fans know, a pitcher's won-loss record does not tell the whole story

AP File PhotoTampa Bay's Jeremy Hellickson, who received 17 of 28 first-place votes for American League Rookie of the Year, went 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA and held hitters to a .210 batting average.

Win-loss record for a pitcher is one of the most overrated statistics in sports. There are better numbers to gauge a pitcher's performance than how many games he wins and loses.

Detroit Tigers fans know this all too well. Doug Fister (11-13) had a much better season than Max Scherzer (15-9) and Rick Porcello (14-9), but he finished with a worse record in part because he spent a good portion of the season with the offensively challenged Seattle Mariners.

Fister finished the season with the same number of victories as Brad Penny (11-11), and no one would argue that those two pitchers had similar seasons.

Why are we discussing this topic right now? Because, in the end, I favored Tampa Bay Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson over New York Yankees starter Ivan Nova when I turned in my American League Rookie of the Year ballot this year.

How other statistics stacked up compared with won-loss record is also a major reason why Nova ended up off my ballot entirely, even though he had a fabulous season that might have made him the Rookie of the Year in another season.

The 2011 AL Rookie of the Year race -- won Tuesday by Hellickson -- was certainly a tough one. I thought there were four rookies that stood out above the rest when it came to filling out the ballot: First basemen Eric Hosmer and Mark Trumbo along with Hellickson and Nova.

The best way to sort it out was to put the players in order by position first. Here's how I broke it down.

Hosmer over Trumbo
The most impressive number posted by either one of these two was put up by Trumbo, who hit 29 home runs. But Hosmer hit almost 40 points higher, struck out less, had a substantially higher on-base percentage and had a similar slugging percentage despite hitting 10 fewer home runs.

Hellickson over Nova
Nova went 16-4, won his final 12 decisions and did not suffer a loss after June 3. But Hellickson had a better season in almost every way but win-loss record. His ERA was substantially lower (2.95 to 3.70), he pitched more innings, had more strikeouts, held opposing hitters to a much lower average (.210 to .258) and had a much better WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched).

After deciding who the top first baseman and top pitcher were, it became a matter of putting them in a final order. There are two voters in each American League city, so 28 votes were cast for AL Rookie of the Year. Each person voted for their top three.

In order, mine were: Hosmer, Hellickson, Trumbo.

The final balloting had it this way: Hellickson, Trumbo, Hosmer.

The decision was not an easy one. In fact, if I had turned in my ballot a day or two later, I might have gone with Hellickson over Hosmer. My top three might have been in a different order. Really, a strong case could be made for any of the top three to be rookie of the year.

Nova had a fantastic season. It was not easy to leave him off the ballot. But in the end -- due to the level of competition among AL rookies -- it was even harder to put him on it.